A quick scout on their message board suggests that he's been a shadow of himself recently. Calls for him to be dropped even, others saying that he hasn't got his mojo back post-injury. Tough one to call this - but I don't think they're anything to be scared of. The worst team I can remember being at Ewood this season (red card might have had something to do with that to be fair) and a day less to prepare than us. Plus they've got their fare share of injuries too.

I'm annoyed that we've not spent more of the money we've brought in - but you don't pay someone £20k a week in our position because someone is injured for four weeks. Swansea have just sold their captain who plays in the same position as O'Brien, and they're being dragged into a dog fight. Sadly their need is greater than ours when it comes to O'Brien and that's torpedoed our chances of getting him on the cheap. If we have that sort of money to throw around, it has to go on a decent attacker. More depth in midfield is a bonus.

Pretty well sums up what I'm thinking. I never liked the idea of using too much of what is clearly a limited budget on O'Brien when Travis and Tronstad have been our top performers. Not saying we couldn't do with better depth in certain areas (left back being one) but really we're short of better quality in attacking positions. If we're in a position of throwing £20k a week at someone, it wouldn't be a central midfielder at this point.

The thing that gives me hope is that he gets in scoring positions. Gallagher's time here shows you can't necessarily teach that, but chances fall to Leonard with decent regularity. So I don't think his movement is a problem. He hasn't played enough (or stayed fit for long enough) to really judge his potential in my opinion, but if he stays injury free I think he'll be a regular scorer at some level in the professional game. Whether that's at a Championship club or not is yet to be seen.

In fairness, we've been crying out for more pace for years. All of our attackers - whatever you think of their quality - are very one paced and we've not really been able to stretch teams by running in behind since Brereton/Khadra. Obviously I'm not advocating signing dross just because they're quick, but we'd be much less one-dimensional and get more out of our other forwards if we had at least one player with genuine pace. Especially because we often set up to play on the break. At least we have Gueye to be a decent out-ball now, but we still don't have anyone really capable of attacking space.

I haven't seen him play much beyond games against Rovers and highlights, but I'm not sure I'd call it a no brainer. It seems like he would eat up the majority if not all of what we have to spend, and he's never done much above L1. Okay he was young then and he seems to have added goals to his game, but we're counting on him being able to do it at a higher level. Don't get me wrong I'd definitely take him, but he would need to play out wide if Cantwell is in the team and he seems a bit one-paced whenever I've seen him. It's all very well saying that he'll keep his value, but there's not much cash around in the Championship away from parachute clubs or those who have just sold a player for big money. He'd need to be delivering consistently at this level to get someone to part with decent money.

But if it's a given then why don't we have it in the rest of our squad? Dolan works hard, but isn't big enough to get up and down the pitch like Hedges. Weimann similar. Cozier-Dubery similar. Obviously if we had three Ryan Hedges playing behind a striker then we would be in serious trouble. If we're looking to bring in an upgrade in his position - as it seems we are - then that's great. I'd happily trade a little bit of his athleticism for a player who contributes more going forward. But we're somehow 5th in the league, mainly by being hard to play against. If being able to do that well was ten a penny, then more teams would do it well. I think Eustace demands doing your job off the ball from his wide players, that's true. But the flip side of that is that Hedges usually starts when fit, so he presumably rates him as bringing something to the table more than the others (and it's not his attacking threat!). Hopefully over the coming weeks we'll be signing someone who is an upgrade in all areas making the whole thing academic. On Buckley, I meant miles away in terms of being first choice on merit. Travis and Tronstad have been excellent and last night, Buckley was okay.

Very little. No question about that. I was probably posting on here earlier in the season that we should drop him (I was definitely thinking it!) and even now I wish our options were strong enough that he could be more of a bit part player. All I'm saying is that we as fans are often guilty of caring too much about what players do in possession and not enough about what they do out of possession. When we keep winning tight games by keeping clean sheets and being tough to break down, you start appreciating the other things that players bring to the table and we don't have anyone else in Hedges position who combines his athleticism and workrate. Disagree about Buckley last night. I'll grant you there was that slide tackle which was idiotic, but on the whole it was the most he's resembled a 'normal' midfielder in ages. He's miles away from getting in when everyone's fit, but yesterday was a good sign in terms of him having any sort of career here I thought (although swallows, summers, etc.)

I remember his debut at Stockport thinking that he was keeping things simple but was a very effective at getting the ball under control and laying it off. Classic target man stuff. The sort of stuff that you always wanted Gallagher to do, but he lacked the first touch (and aggression?) to do it well. The bigger problem with Gueye is what seems be between his ears rather than anything technical. When he's on form he can obviously contribute and even change games like yesterday. When he isn't, he doesn't look like a professional footballer.

On Hedges - I've given him plenty grief both this season and earlier, but I think the last couple of months have shown how valuable he is out of possession. And let's face it, our good results have been a lot more about being hard to break down than doing anything especially impressive with the ball. He works hard and unlike Dolan/Weimann/seemingly Cozier-Dubbery, he has the legs and frame to get up and down the pitch easily. Obviously an upgrade would be nice but I think we have to recognise that his contribution can be a bit under the radar sometimes. Yesterday, I thought we were better in the first half than some are saying. It was a bit of a non-event, but we were easily the better team in the first half an hour or so and should've been two in front before they hit the bar with what was I think their first shot? Quite like what I saw from Buckley too - he wasn't brilliant by any means but in the main he was playing the ball quicker and didn't have too many 'Buckleyisms' of under hitting easy passes or dallying on the ball too long. Something for him to build on.

Don't want to be making excuses for Buckley - without question he's been a very disappointing player thus far - but I get the sense that he's a player who suffers a lot more than most by not having some rhythm in his game. And he's not had a proper run of starts in ages.

I don't think it's even driven by data. I bet it would be easy to use data to show much of a brilliant job Dyche did at Burnley, for example. It wouldn't have stopped people turning their nose up at him though because of 'style of play'. Completely baffling. I think you're right about Eustace. He's obviously gong to have a growing list of people recognising the job he's doing, but when it comes to the small number of clubs who might actually go for him? You can imagine a lot of reactions going something like "he's done brilliantly at Rovers, but do we want someone who's so defensive/not gone promoted/not a big name" etc.

I might end up looking silly further down the line for this, but I'm not worried at all about Eustace being poached. Prem jobs going to Championship managers - especially those without a promotion on their CV - are as rare as hens teeth. When it comes to other Championship teams, it's surprisingly rare to see managers go directly from one club to another. Stoke have got form in bringing in Schumacher from Plymouth and Alex Neil from Sunderland, but they are the only examples I can think of in the last couple of years. Ultimately there's not much money around if you don't have parachute payments, and so that means i) most clubs are roughly as attractive as each other when it comes to resources, and ii) clubs aren't willing to pay £1million plus in compensation even if Eustace were interested. If a parachute club, or maybe e.g. Middlesbrough really wanted him come the end of the season then I'd worry, but even there teams tend to be picky in wanting a manager who already has a record of promotion to the prem.

In one sense you're completely correct. But at least we're not really one for sacking coaches these days, especially once they get a bit of credit in the bank like Eustace has. Most clubs in this league are either skint, dysfunctional or both. We are probably both, but it's a big risk to be making sidewise moves in the Championship. If he got an offer from a club with parachute payments, then that's obviously a different kettle of fish.

When you think that Birmingham (who signed Wright) spent well into eight figures for one player, that is an appalling return for five players.

I still can't really work Baker out, but the one thing he clearly isn't a natural at is bringing lots of energy off the ball. Definitely not a like-for-like Travis replacement. He might still play, but I'd be tempted to give JRC a go. As @Tyrone Shoelaces says, he's in stinking form, but there's less pressure on his mistakes leading directly to chances than when he's in the back four, he's the one who is most similar to Travis, and it might even be a chance for him to see a lot of the ball and play himself into some form. This is the sort of fixture which screams soft Rovers loss. Even pre-Venkys we used to routinely lose these sorts of games! I'd be pretty happy if we end up with three points after this and Sheff Wednesday. Any more and I'd be over the moon.

You could well be right about that. The one thing that stood out above everything else vs Sheffield United though was just how physically dominant they were. Not just that of course, but when a team is so much quicker and stronger then you really have to go some to outplay them. I'm not sure whether Leeds have quite the same physical edge. I think they've had some issues with players being unavailable in midfield. Rothwell's been a mainstay in there, and we know better than anyone that as good as he can be going forward, he has his flaws. Their away from has been slightly dodgy too, so I don't think a result is out of the question at all.

The Swansea game shouldn't be much of a barometer of how tonight should go. After last night's 0-0 draw, that's now seven out of their eleven games this season which saw a maximum of one goal. Definitely puts our struggles with the ball into consideration. I think more of a football match should break out tonight. Whether that suits us not remains to be seen.

Agree about Carter. It's not that he doesn't have decent ability on the ball, maybe 20 years ago he would've been brought through as a right back rather than a centre half. He hasn't let anyone down there at all, but there too many times you can tell he isn't natural in that position. Should be an emergency measure only going forward. On Brittain vs JRC, I think when he's on form JRC has to get in the team somewhere. Sadly though he hasn't shown anything like so far this year for whatever reason, whereas Brittain has set up two goals already despite missing half our games. Brittain starts for me.

Yes, pretty productive. Wouldn't go any further than that, but 13 goals/assists since the start of last season (which he missed a decent chunk of through injury) is decent. Not brilliant, but if we had another one or two with those sorts of contributions then we wouldn't have relied on Szmodics as much as we did. And I think his decision making is miles better too. When he first arrived he was a bundle of energy who would run at players, but his final ball was like rolling a dice and he'd regularly run himself into blind alleys. Now he takes fewer touches and when he gets the ball in the right areas (not often enough) looks to pick a pass more. You could never see him providing the sort of assist like did at Leeds away a few years ago, for instance. I'm not saying he's a world beater and he'll always be up against it being as small as he is, but I think he's developing pretty well all things considered. Definitely agree with your second point. It seems like we've had rocks or diamonds up front for a long while. Or in Brereton's case, rocks that turn into diamonds!

To be fair I think all of our attacking midfield/wide players who've been here for any length of time get a bit of stick. Hedges gets plenty of criticism on here (including from me) and Sigurdsson and Markanday are only dodging it because they're out of the team. Having said that I agree that he's a decent Championship player. I don't know what sort of contract we would need to offer to keep him, but it would be disappointing to see him go for nothing.

Of the three behind Gueye, I thought he was better than Hedges (who was totally anonymous going forward) and behind Cantwell, but that's only because Cantwell grew into the game a bit more in the second half. Dolan's big problem is his lack of physicality, and his lack of pace over longer distances. In games like yesterday where we have hardly any ball, we don't have much pace and the whole team is a bit off with their passing, Dolan just doesn't have the tools to impose himself on the game. Having said all that, he had a few decent moments and scored (set up?) the winner, so he deserves credit for that. I actually quite like the way that he's developing. He's pretty productive with goals/assists and his decision making is streets ahead of where it was when he first joined. Still only 22 as well. But he's never going to get bigger or quicker, and so I think he's always going to be a player that struggles to get into certain types of games, yesterday being a perfect example.

Looking at Swansea's results this season puts yesterday in a slightly different light, I think. All of their games are low scoring affairs apart from a single 3-0 win against PNE. Nobody's put more than one goal past them all year, and they've dominated the ball every time they've played bar one. Taking that into account, yesterday was always going to be a tough watch. But it's also a game that we could've very easily lost, and 100% would've lost last season. A very good three points where we were great off the ball, even if we were poor going forward. I think part of how bad we looked with the ball of our feet was linked to our lack of pace. I lost count of the number of times we gave the ball away by playing passes in front of Dolan/Cantwell/Hedges but they were beaten to it by a Swansea defender.

I've thought for a while that home advantage seems to count for a lot more during midweek games, but that's unbelievable. I wonder if other clubs have got a similar pattern.

The failure of David Moyes there made me reassess what you need to be a manager of a club like Man United. Ten years of relative success at one of the bigger clubs in England and he was totally unprepared. If anything the length of time at a "normal" club seemed to be a hindrance to getting to grips with what is a totally different job. There's such a small pool of people genuinely prepared to take on those sorts of clubs, in not surprising that the likes of Ancelotti keep getting hired over and over again. I'm not sure if Southgate will ever manage again to be honest. After being England manager does he have the hunger to slum it at a lower-Prem team or below, and I think Man United are the only club significantly above that level who would be stupid enough to hire him. He wouldn't last a season if they did, but it would be seriously funny in the meantime.